The increasing prevalence and cross-national nature of disasters means countries have much to learn from each other in terms of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). However, cross-nation mutual learning ...are often hindered by distance and language barriers. Japan and Indonesia, as countries with significant similarities and differences in terms of disaster profile, socioeconomic and cultural conditions, embody both the potentials and barriers for mutual learning. To help surmount these barriers, this paper describes the project plan to develop a multilingual educational platform for cross-nation, real-time distant interaction in youth disaster preparedness between Indonesia and Japan. The platform is designed for both mobile and web-based applications, with interfaces in Indonesian, English and Japanese to facilitate language barriers. The design consists of three main elements. First, an interactive assessment module is used to measure knowledge and preparedness. Second, a series of multimedia eLearning modules allow participants to increase their knowledge and capacity in DRR. Finally, a set of gamified educational materials is developed to allow an immersive and collaborative learning experience. To facilitate mutual learning across countries, this module includes an online multiplayer serious game where participants from different countries work together in various disaster simulation scenarios, utilizing skills they learnt from the eLearning modules. The use and implementation of this platform is hoped to increase local DRR capacities and awareness, grow networks of mutual learning among youth in Indonesia and Japan, and add to creative methods for DRR education. Evaluation will also increase knowledge regarding similarities, differences, and potential synergies in DRR across local and cross national levels in Indonesia and Japan.
Objectives
To investigate the impact on intravesical recurrence and prognosis according to the ureteral ligation timing during radical nephroureterectomy for upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma.
...Methods
We carried out a retrospective chart review of 664 patients with non‐metastatic upper urinary tract urothelial carcinoma who underwent radical nephroureterectomy with ureteral ligation (supplementary analysis of JCOG1110A). We excluded patients with previous and/or synchronous bladder cancer, clinically node‐positive disease, no ureteral ligation data, those without ureteral ligation and those with any missing data. We investigated the cumulative incidence of intravesical recurrence and cancer‐specific mortality, and overall survival between patients with ureteral ligation before renovascular ligation (early ureteral ligation), or ureteral ligation after renovascular ligation (late ureteral ligation).
Results
Early and late ureteral ligation was carried out in 243 patients (36.6%) and 421 patients (63.4%), respectively. Intravesical recurrence occurred in 218 patients (32.8%) during follow up (median 3.9 years). No significant difference in the intravesical recurrence was found between early and late ureteral ligation groups. Meanwhile, survival in the early ureteral ligation group was significantly worse compared with the late ureteral ligation group. Multivariable analysis showed that early ureteral ligation was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval 1.24–2.85, P = 0.003) and cancer‐specific mortality (hazard ratio 1.93, 95% confidence interval 1.14–3.25, P = 0.014).
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that the incidence of intravesical recurrence is not affected by the timing of ureteral ligation during radical nephroureterectomy. However, early ureteral ligation might have a negative impact on survival outcomes.
Abstract To improve the function of the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) bioartificial pancreas, we focused on bone marrow–derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). We examined whether the function of ...PVA-encapsulated rat islets could be improved by coencapsulation with syngeneic MSCs. We macroencapsulated 1,500 rat islet equivalents (IEQ) with or without 1 × 106 MSCs with the use of 3% PVA solution before implantation intraperitoneally into diabetic BALB/c mice. We evaluated the function of the device in vitro (the residual rate, viability, and insulin-releasing function of the islets) and in vivo assessments (blood glucose and serum C-peptide changes after transplantation and glucose tolerance test). Although cultured islets also were destroyed, the shapes of the islets cocultured with MSCs were preserved but not different from encapsulated islets without MSCs. At 96 hours after culture the residual rates of islet recovery among those cocultured with versus without MSCs were 66% versus 39.5%, respectively, ( P = .03). On the other hand, there was no significant difference between encapsulated islets with versus without MSCs. Furthermore, the stimulation index of the islets was improved by coculture with MSCs (2.6 ± 0.6 vs 1.4 ± 0.1; P = .03), but no beneficial effects were observed between islets encapsulated with versus without MSCs. The viability of islets cocultured with MSCs was significantly better than that without MSCs (84.2 ± 2.5 vs 73.3 ± 0.9; P = .037), but MSCs did not improve the viability of encapsulated islets. There were no significant differences in blood glucose or serum C-peptide between islets encapsulated with versus without MSCs. The histologic findings showed many degenerative islets and MSCs soon after transplantation. In conclusion, further studies are necessary to develop a novel PVA bioartificial pancreas that can be used with MSCs.
We investigated the effects of previously identified quantitative trait loci (QTL) in an experimental backcross (BC) between Chinese Meishan pigs and commercial Duroc pigs. We performed ...marker‐assisted introgression of two QTL for intramuscular fat (IMF) content (IMF population) and three QTL for reproductive traits (reproduction population) from a donor Meishan pig into a recipient Duroc pig. At the fourth BC generation of the IMF population and third BC generation of the reproduction population, carrier animals were selected for the production of animals homozygous for the QTL. Our previous studies have shown that the presence of a Meishan allele on the IMF QTL is associated with low IMF values, and the Meishan allele on the reproductive QTL is associated with large litters. In this study, the presence of a Duroc allele at the IMF QTL on SSC9 resulted in a 0.27% increase in IMF (additive effect = 0.27 ± 0.08), whereas the presence of a Meishan allele at the IMF QTL on SSC7 resulted in a 0.34% increase in IMF (additive effect = −0.34 ± 0.09). The presence of the Meishan allele at the IMF QTL on SSC7 thus had the opposite effect to our previous studies, that is, increased IMF. In the reproduction population, we observed no differences between the genotypes of the three QTL in regard to number of corpora lutea or litter size. Marker‐assisted introgression at these QTL is thus unlikely to result in an associated increase in litter size. These results show that it is possible to introgress alleles from other breeds into a selection population using molecular markers; any unexpected results might be associated with the genetic background.
To investigate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on tumor characteristics and biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy (RP) for prostate cancer (PCa) in Japanese men.
We evaluated ...data from consecutive patients who had undergone RP. Data analyzed included age, preoperative serum PSA, prostatic volume, BMI (continuous or categorized (≤ 25 kg/m(2)) values), clinical and pathological findings including index tumor volume (ITV), and current status in areas such as smoker or nonsmoker and presence or absence of diabetes. We analyzed association between BMI and BCR, especially based on ITV using univariate and multivariate analysis.
We analyzed data from a total of 703 patients. The median follow-up time was 38.4 months. BCR was diagnosed in 154 patients (21.9%) at a median of 9.7 months postoperatively. Multivariate linear regression analysis adjusted for preoperative variables showed a significant positive association between BMI and ITV (continuous BMI: P=0.002; categorical BMI: P<0.001, respectively), especially for higher-grade tumors (Gleason score ≥ 7). Cox proportional hazards analysis showed a significant association between continuous BMI and BCR after surgery (preoperative variables, hazard ratio (HR) 1.09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.16, P=0.008), independent of clinical and pathological findings. In patients with high-risk cancer, the positive association between BMI and BCR was strengthened (preoperative variables, continuous BMI, HR 1.16, 95% CI 1.07-1.26, P<0.001; categorical BMI, HR 2.11, 95% CI 1.29-3.45, P=0.003, respectively).
Greater BMI significantly correlates with higher rates of BCR after surgery; BMI is a preoperative variable associated with high-grade ITV. Our results suggest that the biological environment created by greater BMI may contribute to increasing tumor aggressiveness.
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